


Reel against your body's borders

by Captain_Aurinko



Series: superpowers au [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Episode Rewrite: s01e01-02 Juno Steel and the Case of the Murderous Mask, M/M, the yearning levels are off the charts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23596339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Aurinko/pseuds/Captain_Aurinko
Summary: “Run away with me.”“What?”“Hyperion isn’t the safest place for you right now, Juno. Min Kanagawa doesn’t seem like the sort of woman who gives idle threats. Maybe you should just… disappear.”He snorted. “Easy for the shapeshifter to say.”OR Rex didn't count on Juno having powers when he tried to rob him.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Series: superpowers au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673617
Comments: 48
Kudos: 207





	Reel against your body's borders

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aesphantasmal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesphantasmal/gifts).



When Juno had started the kiss, he’d had a plan. It had been a long day, filled with killer cameramen, sociopathic stepmothers, and one particular Dark Matters agent with enough secrets locked behind his sharpened smile to fill a hundred stream specials. In fact, Juno was starting to suspect that he wasn’t even a Dark Matters agent at all. So, Juno had invited the agent, Rex, back to his apartment with a not-so-cursed mask in tow. Juno knew Rex planned to steal the mask, but he didn’t have proof. The only way to get proof was to catch him in the act of stealing the mask. The mask was in Juno’s locked safe, and the safe key was in Juno’s pocket.

All of that was a very roundabout way to say that Juno was kissing Rex, and Rex was rooting around for Juno’s safe keys in his pockets while he was supposedly distracted. 

There was just one problem with this. At some point in between when the kiss started and when Rex’s hand had made its way into Juno’s pocket, Juno realized that he wasn’t kissing the same face. Even with his eyes closed, Juno could feel the man in front of him grow a few inches taller, teeth and bone structure sharpening. Rex himself seemed to realize this a moment later, and as he moved to break the kiss, Juno pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on his wrists. 

“I- Juno- you- how?” The man who was now blinking owlishly back at Juno was handsome, but not in the same way as Rex. He was older by a few years, probably closer to Juno’s age. Rex had been good-looking, but in an average, face-in-the-crowd kind of way. The man in front of him now was breathtaking and severe and anything but ordinary. It was as if Rex Glass was the natural conclusion when you took this man and sanded all of the sharp edges off: the focus in his eyes, the stark inky blackness of his hair, the imperceptible danger that lurked somewhere in his features. Juno liked this new face better, despite himself.

“You’re a shapeshifter,” Juno breathed, taking a step back. The moment Juno’s fingers left the man’s wrist, his features smoothed over and he looked like Rex again. 

Rex laughed awkwardly, clearly clutching for the shreds of his plan. “Yes, well, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier Juno, but it’s something that Dark Matters likes to keep under wraps. It’s classified I’m afraid. Now, if you wouldn’t mind-” He held up his wrists. “-I’d rather we got back down to business. Unless... this is part of the fantasy?”

“You’re-” Juno cleared his throat. He hadn’t prepared for this anymore than Rex had. “You’re under arrest, Rex, or… whoever you are.”

Rex, as unsettled as he clearly was, had the sense to look indignant. “On what charges?”

“For attempting to steal the Mask of  Grimpotheuthis .”

“I haven’t the first idea what you’re talking about.”

“And for stealing the key to my safe right out of my pocket.”

“Did I?” Wordlessly, Juno reached into Not-Rex’s pocket and pulled out the key he’d just stolen. “Ah,” Not-Rex said mildly. “That does sound more familiar.” Juno felt proud to have outwitted him. Then he thought about how the thief would fare in Hoosegow with Cassandra, and felt sick. The thief sat on the couch and leaned back, shifting to get more comfortable. “Juno, if I may-”

“What.”

Not-Glass hesitated. “How did you- that is to say, I wasn’t aware- my face-”

Juno folded in on himself. “You want to know how I took your powers away.”

“If you’d be so inclined.”

“You’re not the only one with a power here, Rex, or whatever your real name is. I just didn’t get as lucky as you in the superpowers lottery. Changing your face: must come in handy for a thief.”

“Then you have, what, power cancellation?” Juno nodded without looking at him. He already felt bad enough today. He didn’t need to see the man’s revulsion. All Juno could do was take from others. He’d seen the horror on the faces of people who lost their powers for the first time. He didn’t need to see it on the face of this man who had kissed him- who had robbed him. His feelings were too muddled without that. Juno was so lost in thought, he almost didn’t hear what Not-Rex said next. “Must come in handy for a detective, apprehending all sorts of things that go bump in the night.” 

“Yeah, sometimes.” Juno pulled out his comms and sent a message. “The police will be here in a few minutes.”

Not-Glass pursed his lips. “Why did you wait until now to rip off my disguise? Why not expose me at the start?”

“I didn’t-” Juno looked at the thief, who was watching Juno as if committing his features to memory. It occured to Juno that the shapeshifter could very well copy Juno to use for his own devices. “I knew you weren’t who you said you were, but I didn’t think you could shapeshift. My powers are only active when I’m touching the person in question. I can’t control it. This… was a surprise for me too.”

Not-Rex raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And do you get so personal with all of the men you plan to arrest?”

Juno flushed. “Look, I’m sorry I cancelled your powers-”

“It is rather unfortunate.” Juno’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the desk. “I’m sure it must have been disappointing to realize that I didn’t look like you’d hoped. I… apologize for misleading you.”

“Oh, great! Glad you realized that stealing is wrong. Now, all you have to do is convince the cops you’ve learned your lesson and-”

“Juno, that’s not what I meant-”

Juno whirled on him, eyes flashing with the moral outrage that Rex had mentioned finding so attractive. “Then what did you mean, Glass? Cause I know you can’t be talking about anything between us.”

“Run away with me.”

“What?”

“Hyperion isn’t the safest place for you right now, Juno. Min Kanagawa doesn’t seem like the sort of woman who gives idle threats. Maybe you should just… disappear.”

He snorted. “Easy for the shapeshifter to say.”

“Juno, tonight you’ve torn my closest held secret from me. No one alive in this galaxy knows what I look like.”

“Doesn’t bode well for my chances, huh? No wonder you want me to run off with you. Find a nice back alley to gut me in, then dump my carcass-”

“ _ I would never.” _ He said it with such intensity that it made Juno’s breath catch. He was caught in the thief’s gaze, unmoving, unbreathing. “Run away with me. Let’s disappear and let me show you the wonders of the galaxy. There are marvels out there that you couldn’t dream, each more beautiful than the last, but none of them to rival you. I’ve given you my greatest secrets, and I’m not afraid that’ll you use them as weapons against me, because I know you, Juno Steel, goddess of protectors. You protect what’s yours.”

There was a knock at the door. Juno swallowed with difficulty. He broke the stare first, looking down at his hands, which only ever seemed to destroy and rend what he tried to cradle safely. They broke and they bled and they took what wasn’t his and what couldn’t be his so that all was left was resentment on every side. He forced his legs to move towards the door. When he spoke, the words came out soft and wet and vulnerable in a way he hadn’t intended. “You don’t want me with you, Glass. I’ll only slow you down.”

Juno opened the door and the cops took Not-Glass away. Too late, he realized that Not-Glass had said “secrets” and not “secret”. Too late he’d found the note tucked between the couch cushions, smelling of a familiar cologne and signed with a name to match the sharp face under the mask. Too late he turned on the public access channel, and called Sasha, and then hung up on Sasha. 

Peter Nureyev would see him again, Juno was sure of it. The only question was whether he would let Juno close enough to see  _ Peter Nureyev _ again, and what it would mean if he did.

**Author's Note:**

> So i wrote a thing for the first time in weeks, and you can probably tell the quarantine yearning is getting to me. 
> 
> I'm coming back with more for this AU, don't worry. 
> 
> Anyways COMMENT and KUDOS and whatnot


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